Knowledge Gaps

The study explores what factors influence the reduction of managers’ perceived
knowledge gaps in the context of the environments of foreign markets. Potential
determinants are derived from traditional internationalization theory as well as
organizational learning theory, including the concept of absorptive capacity. Building on
these literature streams a conceptual model is developed and tested on a set of primary
data of Danish firms and their foreign market operations. The empirical study suggests
that the factors that pertain to the absorptive capacity concept – capabilities of
recognizing, assimilating, and utilizing knowledge - are crucial determinants of
knowledge gap elimination. In contrast, the two factors deemed essential in traditional
internationalization process theory – elapsed time of operations and experiential
learning – are found to have no or limited effect.
Key words: Internationalization, knowledge gap, absorptive capacity, learning box.